Press Estimating costs for space launch vehicles is rarely straightforward. In many cases, space launches are arranged through private or classified contracts.1 In other cases, launch providers may provide costs for a single configuration of a launch vehicle, despite offering a wide range of variants of the vehicle to potential customers with vastly different capabilities. Most critically, the very definition of “launch cost” is subject to interpretation.
The unit flyaway cost “includes all direct and indirect manufacturing costs and their associated overhead plus recurring engineering, sustaining tooling, and quality control.”
Source: Space Launch to Low Earth Orbit: How Much Does It Cost? – Aerospace Security
